Gary Anthony James Webb was born on 8 March 1958 in Hammersmith, West London. His father was a British Airways bus driver based at Heathrow Airport. Gary had many jobs like forklift truck driver, air conditioning ventilator fitter, accounts clerk and also like his father a bus driver at Heathrow. His father bought him a Gibson Les Paul guitar when he became 15 years old. He briefly played in various bands and looked through advertisements in Melody Maker for bands to join. He also auditioned as guitarist for the then-unknown band the Jam from Paul Weller. When he was 18 years old Gary Webb was the frontman of the London band Mean Street in 1976. Their song "Bunch of Stiffs" appeared on the Live at the Vortex compilation. And was the first ever performance on vinyl by Gary. After leaving this band he joined The Lasers on guitar.
Paul Gardiner was the bass player of the band. The band was soon renamed to Tubeway Army and his uncle Jess Lidyard appeared on drums. The members all had nicknames. Gary was Valerian, Gardiner "Scarlett", and Lidyard "Rael". They became a well known name in the punk scene in London and managed to get a record contract with Beggars Banquet. Their debut single "That's Too Bad" was released in 1978 but didn't do much. A second single "Bombers"/"Blue Eyes"/"OD Receiver" was released but also failed to impress. The band went through many line-up changes and moved away from punk rock. This resulted in a split between Gardiner and Webb. Gary decided to stop performing live at that time to become a studio band.
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| First 2 singles: That's Too Bad + Bombers |
They soon released their untitled debut album when Gary adopted the name Numan instead of Webb. It was a pseudonym from a local Yellow Pages where a plumber called "Arthur Neumann" was listed. He dropped the German spelling and it simply became Numan. The album was still based around guitar, bass and drums. But pure by accident they also used a Minimoog which they found in the recording studio. The album was later combined with a live performance "Live at the Roxy" from 1978. Which was also released as "Living Ornaments '78". The album didn't do much at that time but after the success of their second album it reached #14 in the UK.
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| Tubeway army in 1979 |
The songs had science fiction themes similar to those in the books of J.G. Ballard (Empire of the Sun) and Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). Numan was a big fan of them. The second album by the Tubeway Army titled "Replicas" was more synth and science fiction oriented compared to the first album. The first single from the second album "Down in the Park" failed to chart but would become a well known song afterwards. The next single, "Are 'Friends' Electric?" was released in May 1979 and became the band's first entry on the UK Singles Chart and managed to reach #1 in June 1979. In the Netherlands the song reached #9. The song was based around Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which would become more popular when the book was filmed as "Blade Runner" directed by Ridley Scott. Gary Numan was a sensation and Tubeway Army's appearance on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test, followed soon after by a slot on Top of the Pops on 24 May 1979. The band was now including Ultravox keyboardist Billy Currie, Chris Payne, Paul Gardiner and drummer Cedric Sharpley. Eventually the name of the band was dropped and they started performing as Gary Numan. Later albums were released as Gary Numan and he became a solo artist. "Replicas" reached #44 in the Netherlands and #1 in the UK.
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| Single cover for "Are Friend Electric?". |
In 1981 his backing band formed the synth group Dramatis and released an album titled "For Future Reference" (1981) which featured Numan as guest vocalist on one track titled "Love Needs No Disguise". That song was released on single and became another hit reaching #33 in the UK. The other singles of this album and the album itself didn't do much.
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| First album cover |
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| Second album cover |
Tubeway Army (1978)
Listen to the Sirens / My Shadow in Vain / The Life Machine / Friends / Something's in the House / Everyday I Die / Steel and You / My Love Is a Liquid / Are You Real? / The Dream Police / Jo the Waiter / Zero Bars (Mr. Smith)
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| Original album cover |
Me! I Disconnect from You / Are 'Friends' Electric? / The Machman / Praying to the Aliens / Down in the Park / You Are in My Vision / Replicas / It Must Have Been Years / When the Machines Rock / I Nearly Married a Human
AUDIO/VIDEO
Mean Street - Bunch Of Stiffs
Something's In The House
Everyday I Die
Are Friends Electric
Down In The Park